


even if we're apart, i'll always be with you

by andibeth82



Category: A-Babies Vs. X-Babies, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Bear is everyone's best friend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Essentially pre-Civil War reimagined with baby Avengers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5468210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andibeth82/pseuds/andibeth82
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve finds a dirty toy bear at an abandoned gas station, on the way back from a school trip. He brings him home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	even if we're apart, i'll always be with you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amy/gifts).



> Merry Yuletide! This essentially turned into a playground version of the MCU's pre-Civil War storyline, but I did my best to include some of your prompts (including a loosely interpreted version of, "how do other people take care of Bucky Bear?")
> 
> Title from The House At Pooh Corner: _"If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together…there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart…I’ll always be with you."_
> 
> Thank you to G, my cheerleader. And to B, who read this and cried.

Steve finds Bucky in an abandoned gas station, on the way back from a school trip. He drags him out from underneath an old printing machine when he wanders off in the wrong direction; his teacher isn’t happy that he’s been poking around somewhere that he doesn’t belong and even less thrilled that he’s found something that looks like it belongs in a dumpster.

“Only _Clint’s_ toys look like they come out of a dumpster,” Steve protests, because the Barton kid was a nice guy and all but his stuffed dog, the one he was hardly ever without, _had_ actually been rescued from a trash pile a few years ago.

“He looks old,” scoffs his teacher, trying to tug the bear away. “Come on, Steve. Let’s go.”

Steve refuses to leave the toy. He pitches a rather hysterical and (by his standards) political fit about why he should be allowed to keep it and in the end, his teacher relents and lets Steve back onto the bus with the bear. Steve skips happily to the back, settling himself and stretching out his legs.

“What’s that?” Natasha asks curiously, poking her head over the seat. Natasha always liked to know what was going on with everyone else, and Steve knew she often got in trouble for it, even if she tried to be sneaky about the way she nosed into other people’s lives.

“I found him,” Steve says, holding up the dark furred bear. He’s dirty and his face is worn, but even underneath all the grime, Steve can tell that he’s dressed in a red and blue uniform. One of his arms is silver rather than brown, and his eyes are a little misshapen, and his legs stick out at a strange angle, as if he’s been flattened. Natasha stares and then wrinkles her nose.

“He’s filthy.”

“Don’t talk about him like that!” Steve says hotly, suddenly feeling protective. Sometimes Natasha thought she could do or say whatever she wanted, just because she was seen as tougher than most. (Steve knows the truth, though. Steve knows she’s not all bravado and courage, especially when she’s around Clint.)

“Fine,” Natasha says, flouncing down in the seat and grabbing for Clint’s fruit roll-up. Natasha and Clint were best friends who were always together, even if they weren’t supposed to be. Steve didn’t have a best friend like that: Sam was a nice friend, and Sharon was a nice friend, and Tony was great to play with from time to time, but Steve didn’t really have anyone that he felt he could count on when it mattered. Steve clutches the bear tighter, slouching down in order to avoid more unwanted interruptions; across the aisle, Bruce is falling asleep while Tony tries to talk to him about his latest classroom experiment.

“You’ll be my friend,” Steve decides, cuddling the bear tight against his chest as the bus rolls down the street.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Steve hides the bear under his coat and sneaks it back into school by way of shoving it into his cubbyhole. When he gets home later, he bypasses his snack of celery sticks and peanut butter and heads straight to his room, propping the bear up against his bedpost.

The bear itself looks tired, but the wrong kind of tired. Steve knows how a toy looks when you love it too much, because he’s seen Clint with his dog or Thor with his plush hammer, and both of those items were ragged, worn with clear adoration from a child that hugged it too much or dragged it around too much. Steve recognized that look, because he did that to his plush soldier, before it had been thrown away. But this bear doesn’t look loved or worn in a good way. Instead, it has the look of someone who has been dragged through the mud, literally and figuratively, and not with any of the care that Steve has seen his other friends give their favorite playthings.

(Steve has been dragged through the mud before, left behind when his parents died and when his grandparents gave him up. He thinks he might know how the bear feels, and it makes him sad.)

He takes the bear to school the next day and when it’s time for recess, Steve casually follows the rest of his class outside, lingering by the door and watching as everyone runs to the playground. Clint and Natasha are playing catch (or, more accurately, Natasha is bossing Clint around and forcing him to play catch, because no one messes with Natasha when she’s made up her mind). Sharon and Sam are in the middle of a card game that Steve suspects Sharon is winning, because Sharon is the brightest student in their class. Bruce sits alone in the corner, reading a book, because Bruce likes to sit alone and because doctors have said that it helps his temper if he stays away from the other kids when tensions are high (or that’s what Steve has heard from the grown-ups.) The Maximoff twins are also sitting alone, but that’s normal, too. They were the newest additions to the class, having moved to New York from Eastern Europe last year. Although they had been invited to play on many occasions, they normally chose to keep to themselves.

Steve waits until no one is paying too much attention and then slips back inside, running down the halls until he gets to the bathroom. He takes out the bear and puts him gently on the floor, and then runs water in the small sink, filling it with a little bit of soap. He spends the next half hour of recess cleaning and scrubbing the bear until he’s wet and sticky but otherwise clean, and rubs a fistful of paper towels across his fur.

“Almost as good as new,” Steve says proudly, tucking him back under his shirt so that he can carry him back to class. He lets the bear sit in the cubby to dry out, hidden by Clint’s long maroon coat that’s slightly too big. When he comes back to get his stuff later in the day, he’s pleased to find that the bear is mostly dry, and also that it looks less like it’s been found on the side of the road and more like it’s been possibly stuck in the toy box for a long time.

“I’m going to name you Bucky,” he decides one day, bouncing the bear on his knee when he thinks he’s alone during snack time. There’s rustling behind him, and then a disgruntled Clint Barton falls out from behind the coats, looking up at Steve in confusion.

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

“What are you doing?” Steve hisses, holding the bear – _Bucky_ – closer. Clint rubs his arm, where two bandages are coming loose.

“Hiding from Natasha. It’s hide and seek day. If she catches me, I’m buying ice cream sandwiches for a week.”

Steve sighs, scooting out of the way so Clint that can climb back into the coats. The serenity won’t last long, he knows, and not ten minutes later, he hears the manic and raspy laugh of Natasha as she finds her best friend. Clint comes grumbling out of the cubbyhole while Natasha beams triumphantly. It was almost an impossible game if Clint ever wanted to win; Natasha knew where all the best hiding places were.

Steve watches them walk off while playfully hitting each other and stays hidden from the world, hugging a freshly washed Bucky, crushing him in his arms. It’s the first time he’s felt like he’s had something to hold onto when everyone else seemed to have someone to count on in the world, and he likes that feeling.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Steve finds the new kid by accident, when he wanders into the cafeteria and can’t find a seat because he’s late. Sam isn’t at school today and Clint is sitting with Natasha, as usual. Tony is sitting with Sharon and Rhodey, and every other table is taken by someone he doesn’t know. So Steve ends up sitting by himself in the corner, propping Bucky Bear up on the chair next to him.

“Excuse me. Can I sit here?”

The voice comes out of nowhere, and Steve looks up. The boy asking the question is small with dark brown hair and big eyes, but Steve can’t help but focus on his stature. He's practically miniature, a feat in of itself, considering that Steve is smaller than most people his age.

“Sure,” Steve says, moving Bucky to the table. He tries to remember if he’s seen the kid before, but he doesn’t think so. Then again, the school is big, and Steve sometimes misses a lot of days thanks to doctor’s appointments. He takes a bite of his tuna sandwich.

“Who are you?”

“Scott Lang. I just moved here from Los Angeles.”

Steve squints at him. “You’re tiny.”

“I know,” Scott says with a shrug, apparently not bothered by Steve's comment. “I don’t grow much. Well, maybe I’ll grow. Eventually.” He looks at Steve and gives him a shy smile, gesturing to the table. “I like your toy.”

“Thanks,” Steve says with a little bit of pride, picking him up and holding him out. “His name is Bucky Bear. He’s my best friend.”

“I had a best friend once,” Scott offers. “He was a stuffed ant, and his name was Antony.”

“What happened to him?” Steve asks curiously, because he has a bad feeling about what's coming next. Scott looks a little sad.

“We lost him when we moved,” he says quietly. “I think he fell out of the truck by accident, but my parents wouldn’t stop and try to find him. They just said I could get another toy at some point.”

Scott’s not crying, but Steve can plainly see that he _wants_ to. He wonders if someone like Scott had lost Bucky Bear in the first place, and then wonders how long Bucky had been alone at the gas station before someone found him and became his friend.

“Wanna hold him?” (Steve has to eat his lunch anyway, and can’t hold Bucky while he eats, and Scott only has a few baggies of food.) Scott’s face brightens, and Steve hands him over.

“He’s really soft,” Scott says as his fingers brush down Bucky’s fur. Steve smiles.

“I know. That’s why he’s my best friend.”

 

______________________________________________________________

 

Steve takes Bucky Bear home that night and then after dinner, he sits on the floor of his bedroom and stares at his new friend.

“You need a little something,” Steve decides. Bucky already looks different enough from other bears, thanks to his red and blue uniform, but Steve doesn’t want to take any chances. Anyone could get lost at school – Natasha had lost her stuffed spider once, and Tony had lost his favorite pair of rings. And Steve has never had a toy that he could brand as his own, anyway. He walks over to the toy chest and digs around until he finds a stuffed rabbit with a black mask tied around its face. He stares at it for awhile, and then slowly lifts the mask off.

“Sorry,” Steve apologizes as he pats the rabbit awkwardly on the head, crawling back to Bucky Bear. He ties the mask around his eyes, and finds that it fits rather well. Steve stands back to inspect his work, and then picks up a red Sharpie, marking the silver part of his fur with a big, bright star. Steve liked the color red, and he also liked stars.

“ _Now_ you’re mine,” Steve says with a smile. He takes Bucky Bear to school and back home, giving him a front row seat in his backpack, and tells Bucky stories about New York, about Brooklyn, about his parents. One day, Steve arrives late for school because of a doctor’s appointment. He’s already missed ten minutes of recess, so he doesn’t bother putting his things in the classroom and instead heads straight to the playground. He’s surprised to find that for once, there’s little action – aside from Bruce in his respective corner, everyone else is hanging around the swing set, looking a little wary.

“What’s going on?” Steve asks as he joins the group, cuddling Bucky in one arm, because he knows something is up.

“Tony’s starting a fight,” Sam says, rolling his eyes, and Steve’s not surprised. Tony likes starting fights that he can’t win. Steve used to hate it, but now he enjoys it, because Tony starting a fight probably means that he’s going to get taken to the Principal’s office. Steve knows that also means he gets to see Tony throw a fit and complain, which is always fun.

“I hope they don’t make us choose sides,” Sam says after another moment. “I don’t really want to fight.”

Steve nods. “Me too,” he agrees. He’d rather go play with Bucky, maybe bring Sam along and maybe Natasha, because Natasha was fun to play with. But Natasha seems to be indifferent to the fight that’s happening, and Steve doesn’t think it’s the right time to go talk to her about it.

“Rogers! Wilson!” Tony’s yelling from the swing set, where he’s standing precariously on top of the thick rubber and holding onto the chains to keep from falling. Steve knows he does that because it makes him taller, because sometimes, Tony can’t wear his big sneakers to school. “Choose your side! Are you with us, or against us?”

Steve looks at Tony and then at the playground, realizing he doesn’t even know what Tony’s talking about. Tony’s best friend Rhodey is standing next to him and across from both of them are Scott, the new kid, and Wanda, one half of the Maximoff twins, who has casually wandered over to see what’s going on. Clint and Natasha are standing next to each other in the middle, holding hands.

“Whose side are _you_ gonna be on?” Steve asks when Tony turns his attention away to bark another order. Sam shrugs.

“I dunno. Maybe yours. The people that end up fighting with you usually end up fighting with me, too.”

In the end, Steve and Sam end up joining Wanda and Scott, because Scott had lunch with him and liked Bucky Bear. Tony gets angry, but before he can yell at them, the big hand hits six and the bell rings and they’re all ushered inside.

“This isn’t over,” Tony says dramatically as he glides back into the classroom, and Steve sighs. He just wants to get Bucky and go home and cuddle under the covers with the latest copy of his _Howling Commandos_  picture book, but there are still hours of school left. He settles in for coloring and naptime instead, with Bucky tucked protectively underneath his arm.

Tony wants to start a war, but Steve feels safe with Bucky, and decides he’s never going to let him go away.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

The next day Steve is putting his coat away, gathering books and papers from his bag, and is surprised to find Clint hiding in the cubbyhole, wiping his face with the back of his palm. Steve is instantly concerned, because Clint never cries, not even when he falls down at the playground or drops his lunch on the floor. Like Natasha, Clint was one of the strongest people Steve knew.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asks, and Clint looks up with a tear-streaked face.

“Natasha went to play with Tony,” Clint says a little bitterly. “So I don’t have a partner to do anything with today.”

As much as Clint and Natasha could sometimes be their own little world, and as much as that could sometimes be annoying, Steve knows how it feels to be alone, without at least one person to talk to when everyone else seemed to have someone by their side. He finds himself holding out Bucky Bear without thinking.

“You can take him, if you want,” says Steve quietly. “He makes a good friend. He watches me cry sometimes but he’ll never say anything. He’s a good bear.”

Clint looks a little uncertain, but reaches out slowly and then takes Bucky Bear from Steve’s arms, cuddling him in his own.

“He’s really soft,” he says after a moment. Steve smiles.

“I know. That’s my favorite thing about him.”

Clint holds Bucky for a little longer, until the bell rings and everyone is forced to take their seats and get back to schoolwork. When Natasha comes in from outside, she doesn’t apologize to Clint, but Steve notices she does ruffle his hair, what he recognizes as being one of their secret and important codes. Clint looks a little comforted and he passes Steve a smile before naptime, mouthing, “thank you.” Steve smiles back.

“You’re a good friend,” he whispers to Bucky Bear, and then he tucks him under his chin before he falls asleep.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

When Steve finds Natasha on the playground a few days later, she’s sitting alone with her knees drawn up to her chest and looks smaller than Steve thinks he’s ever seen her. He feels confused, because despite their apparent fight, Clint and Natasha seemed to have made up – at least, that’s what he's assumed since he had seen them trading fruit roll-ups during morning assembly like nothing was wrong.

“Are you okay?” Steve asks tentatively, sitting down next to her. Usually, that would be a death sentence, because Natasha hadn’t told him he could sit down and Steve hadn’t asked first, and Steve knows the only person who can sit down next to her without asking is Clint. But Steve also knows that Natasha trusts him, mostly because he had stood up for her during a fight once, when bullies decided they wanted to make fun of her red hair.

“No,” says Natasha in a tiny voice. She raises her head, and meets his eyes. “They said I had to go back to the Red Room this week. For tests.”

“Oh.” Steve feels his blood run cold, because he hates hospitals, and he hates the Red Room even more. He’d only been there once, but Natasha had been there for a long time when she was little. He knew it was one of the only things she was truly scared of, even if she’d never admit it.

“Are you okay?” He puts an arm around her shoulder and doesn’t ask where Clint is, because he figures maybe she doesn’t want Clint to know she’s upset if she’s sitting here by herself.

“I don’t know,” Natasha says morosely, putting her chin on her knees. “I don’t have a lot of memories of the Red Room, except for bad ones. I just know I didn’t like it very much. They leave you alone and they make you forget things and there are a lot of doctors who hurt you.”

Steve thinks for a long time before he speaks, and then shifts beside her.

“Do you want to take Bucky Bear?”

Natasha looks up in surprise. “To the Red Room?”

“Yeah,” says Steve. “Maybe he could keep you company. I know they allow toys there sometimes.” Steve doesn’t know if Natasha will even _want_ to take Bucky Bear, because maybe Clint has already offered her the chance to take Lucky, his dog. Maybe Thor has already offered to give her Mew-Mew, his hammer.

Natasha shakes her head. “I don’t know. What if he gets lost?”

“He’s pretty good at finding his way home,” Steve says. “Also, that’s why I marked him. See?” He points to the star on Bucky’s arm, and then to the mask. Natasha smiles a little bit.

“I can really take him?”

“Sure,” Steve says, though he feels a little hesitant. He wants Bucky to stay with him, but he knows Natasha might need him more - and that giving him up, however temporarily, is the right thing to do. “He likes to make people feel safe. He helped Clint feel safe a few days ago.”

Natasha looks down again, her cheeks turning red. “I made him mad when I chose to play with Tony, even though I only did it so he would give me his lunch money.” She sighs. “I think I always make people mad by accident.”

“No, you don’t,” Steve says, bumping her shoulder gently. “You’re a good friend. Clint knows that, and so do I. So does Bucky Bear.”

Natasha looks up and smiles, and Steve smiles back, putting Bucky in her arms.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

The playground is quiet for the next few days. Natasha’s gone to the Red Room, and Steve tries not to worry about her because technically, Natasha can take care of herself just fine but the Red Room is the _Red Room_. Steve doesn’t blame Natasha for being scared of going back there, even if it’s just for a few tests. He wouldn’t want to, if it were him.

Clint worries, though, and doesn’t bother to hide it. He’s moody and keeps to himself, and Steve finds him on the playground playing with pattycake with Wanda.

“Wanna play capture the flag?” Steve asks, interrupting their game. Wanda looks confused at the question, and Steve figures it’s because most people don’t go out of their way to talk to her. “You can play, too,” he offers, looking at Clint, who shakes his head and then waves them off, deciding to play with his nerf arrows instead.

“He’s sad about his friend,” Wanda tells him as they walk to the other end of the playground together. “He was telling me about her.”

“Yeah,” says Steve, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Clint and Natasha haven’t been separated since they were put in the same class last year. They were assigned to the same cubby on the first day, and Natasha didn’t want anything to do with him. They hated each other. But then they became friends.”

“He’s nice,” Wanda says, tucking dark hair behind her ear. “He plays with me sometimes. We don’t get asked to play much, my brother and me. Even the new kid has more friends.”

“I know. Sometimes people get comfortable with relationships,” Steve says. “It doesn’t mean they don’t like you. They just need to be able to trust you.”

“I guess,” Wanda says slowly. “Clint trusts me. He talks to me when no one else will and tells me it’s okay if I’m alone.” She glances up, looking at the landscape of the playground. “That’s why we didn’t take Tony’s side when he wanted to fight. I wanted to stay with Clint, because he was the only person I trusted.”

“I trust you,” Steve says without hesitation, because he realizes he likes Wanda. Wanda is soft-spoken and kind and he figures her brother is the same, and he wants to get to know her because maybe she could be fun to play with. Wanda smiles.

“It’s nice to be trusted by someone.”

Natasha’s still not back at school by the end of the week, but Sharon claims that she’s heard from her and that she’s fine. Steve decides to trust Sharon, because Sharon’s Aunt Peggy is the smartest woman he knows, and he knows Peggy wouldn’t let Sharon come to school and lie about her friend. Clint keeps playing with Wanda and Steve starts to get to know Scott a little better; he’s gotten another toy but he refuses to name it after his old one.

“It’s not the same,” he explains after he shows off the yellow and black ant. “This one is a girl, though. I think I’m going to name her Cassie.”

“Cassie’s a nice name,” says Steve, and he suddenly realizes how much he misses Bucky, and how long it’s been since he’s gotten to cuddle with him. But Scott lets him hold Cassie, and later, Clint even lets him hold Lucky, even though Lucky’s missing an eye.

“It fell out when he went in the wash,” Clint explains, looking a little embarrassed. “But I’m never throwing him out. _Ever_. He’s a good friend.”

Steve understands, because Steve knows all about good friends, because Bucky is a good friend, even though he was once dirty and ratty. Clint lets him take Lucky home and he cuddles the dog under the covers. It’s not quite the same – Lucky’s not as soft as Bucky is and has strange tears in his skin where the fur is spilling out – but Steve can tell he’s been loved, and that comforts him as he falls asleep.

 

______________________________________________________________

 

When Steve comes back to school after the weekend, having returned Clint’s dog before morning assembly, Natasha is the first person he sees. She’s sitting on the floor in the middle of the room reading a book about super spies, and looks up when Steve approaches.

“I’m okay,” Natasha says immediately. Steve notices that there are bandages on her hand, but otherwise, she looks fine, and he feels relieved. “Bucky Bear helped a lot.”

“Yeah?”

Natasha nods, taking him out of her bag and petting him gently. “Yeah. There were doctors who kept poking me and trying to do things to me that I didn’t like. But they let me hold Bucky Bear and when I was holding him, I felt a little safer. When I woke up, I remembered he was there and I remembered who I was, too. It wasn’t like last time, where I was confused.”

She hands him over, and Steve notices she looks a little sad when she does, like she’s giving up a friend she hasn’t realized she’s gotten attached to. “Sorry I said he was dirty when you got him.”

“It’s okay,” Steve says. “I forgive you. Besides, you shouldn’t feel bad. He was pretty dirty, anyway.” He looks around the room, and Natasha follows his gaze.

“So, what did I miss while I was gone?”

“Hmmm.” Steve thinks, holding Bucky Bear more tightly, happy to have him back. “Clint brooded a lot.”

“Oh.” Natasha smiles. “He does that sometimes. He doesn’t do well with his feelings when I’m gone, because he’s used to having me around. I already told him I’d buy him ice cream sandwiches for the week to make up for it.”

Steve laughs a little. “He bonded with the Maximoff kid. They played a lot together.”

“I’m glad he found someone else to play with. Wanda’s nice.” Natasha pauses. “What else?”

“Hmmm. Well, I think Tony still wants to make everyone fight.”

“Do you think they will?” Natasha asks in a quiet voice. Steve shrugs.

“Maybe. But if they do, I don’t think I could ever pick sides.”

“Yeah,” Natasha says, crossing her arms. “Me neither. I’d want to be on Clint’s side, and yours. But I like Tony sometimes.”

“I know,” Steve agrees, glancing over to where Tony and Rhodey are playing with blocks and building intricate structures. He wonders how long it’ll be before Bruce comes along to knock them down in one of his rage fits. “I do, too.” Tony wasn’t all that bad, not really. He just believed in different things, and Steve knows that’s okay. His teachers have told him it’s important to respect people’s opinions.

“I’d stay with you and Clint and Bucky Bear,” Natasha decides, holding out her hand. Steve takes it and smiles.

“Bucky Bear’s good at being a friend. No matter what side you’re on.”

They’re interrupted by Clint, who's ecstatic that Natasha is back, and wants her to look at his new arrows. Natasha loops her arm through his as they walk away together and Steve watches Wanda join them a few minutes later, and then sits down with Bucky, placing him on his knee. He only looks a little more worn than he had when he had left, and smells faintly of hospital cleanliness, but there are indents by his ears and along his face that Steve can tell means he’s been loved and cuddled, the way a toy is supposed to be. It makes his heart feel happy.

At naptime, Wanda and Pietro lie together. Tony and Rhodey are supposed to be sleeping on mats next to each other but Steve can see them silently talking to each other through secret codes and crumpled pieces of paper that are being passed back and forth when no one’s looking. Bruce is curled up on his mat alone, and Scott is clutching his stuffed ant. Natasha and Clint are in the corner, cuddling together like they sometimes do when Clint has nightmares. Steve can see Natasha’s head resting on top of his shoulder, her face burrowed into his neck. Natasha was always a little more vulnerable after she came back from her Red Room trips but he also knows that being with Clint makes Natasha feel safe – he can see it in her eyes, even if she thinks no one else can read her. Instantly, Steve knows Natasha is right. She could never choose a side that wasn’t her best friend’s. Steve suddenly knows he couldn't, either.

“We wouldn’t go to war with anyone else,” Steve promises to Bucky as he lies down on the mat, pulling him close. "I'll be with you til the end of the line."

Bucky Bear was a good friend. Bucky Bear would stay with him, even if other people tried to pull him away, or made him angry, or tried to make him fight when he didn't want to. He catches Natasha’s eye when she raises her head, before she curls up with Clint again.

Steve hugs Bucky, whispers that he loves him, and for the first time in a long time he doesn’t feel so alone.


End file.
